'God said it was a great catch and come on home'

April 23, 2009

Maurice Davenport loved sports. He would organize pick-up games in his Gresham neighborhood and even promised his great-aunt he would take care of her by becoming an NFL player.

Wednesday night, the 14-year-old was in the first softball game of his school's new team at Fernwood Park when he dove for the ball, caught it, then fell on the ball chest first. He was rushed to a hospital and died about an hour later.

"It was a dive and catch," his cousin Booker Hatcher said. "He caught the ball and he cradled it on his chest. . .God said it was a great catch and come on home."

An autopsy today was inconclusive, with the cause of death pending further study. But Maurice's great-aunt, Deborah Hatcher, said she was told by doctors the ball had hit a valve in the boy's heart. She said Maurice had no health problems she knew of.

"I just don't believe it. I really don't believe he's gone," said Hatcher, 59, who raised Maurice since he was 7. "I can't sleep. . . It's hard on his brothers and sisters."

Maurice's coach came to her house Wednesday night and said the boy had been taken to the hospital. "I said, what do you mean?" Hatcher said, thinking it was minor. Then she found out he had died. "I just couldn't believe it. I thought it was a dream."

She recalled how Maurice always called her Deb instead of aunt, and would tell her: "I'm going to take care of you, Deb. You took care of me."